


Everybody Needs to be Forgiven

by AllThoseOtherWorlds



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode: s03e11 Mystery Spot, Forgiveness, Gen, M/M, Sam needs to have people forgive him, Slash if you squint, The Apocalypse, a bit of h/c, gabriel is alive
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-10
Updated: 2014-01-10
Packaged: 2018-01-08 06:35:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1129463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllThoseOtherWorlds/pseuds/AllThoseOtherWorlds
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Years after Mystery Spot, Sam wakes up to hear "Heat of the Moment" and freaks out. He and Gabriel finally talk about the incident, and the Apocalypse that followed it. In the end, everything is forgiven.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Everybody Needs to be Forgiven

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place around the end of season 8, in a universe where Gabriel starts travelling with them around the middle of season 8. The timing isn't too important except that I mention the season 7/8 gap.
> 
> I don't own Supernatural. If I did Gabriel would have had more episodes, and would still be alive.

                Sam wakes up to “Heat of the Moment” and before his brain has a chance to process the situation he’s panicking.

                “No, not again. No no no no nonononono-”

                He’s cut off by Gabriel’s voice from across the room. “Hey, what is it, kiddo?”

                It is then that he realizes it is not Tuesday (it’s Thursday) and it has, in fact, been years since Mystery Spot. He supposes he should have moved on by now; it’s been so long, and he’s seen Dean die since then and come back to life, and it should be fine, but it isn’t. Every once in a while he’ll hear this song on the radio and shudder, or they’ll hit a town with a mystery spot and Sam will ask Dean to just keep driving until they pass it

                He looks over at Gabriel, who joined them a few weeks ago (when asked how he had come back he just winked at them and asked, “What, you think you three have a monopoly on not being dead?”). He watches as Dean realizes what’s happening and shuts off the radio before making an excuse to leave the room with Castiel. Cas just looks confused, but follows anyway when he sees the expression on Dean’s face. The two angels are sticking around for a while, and since they don’t need to sleep they always seem to be in the room waiting for them when they wake up in the mornings. Cas is probably there out of loyalty and some sense of penance, and although Dean thinks Gabriel is probably just bored, Sam can’t help but wonder if his reasons aren’t the same as Castiel’s.

                With Dean and Cas gone for the moment, he waits for Gabriel to start the conversation he’s been dreading.

                “So, want to explain what just happened?”

                Sam tried to suppress a glare. “What just happened is I woke up to the same _stupid_ song you made me listen to every morning back at Mystery Spot _over_ and _over_ again.” He told Dean that he’d lost count of the Tuesdays, but he lied. He remembers every single one, and every day of the six months following them. If he wanted, he could probably still find his way around that town in a blindfold.

                Gabriel is looking surprised and guilty as recognition flares into his eyes. He grimaces. “Oh. That.”

                Sam has never before seen the archangel at a loss for words, but he is. Sam is too, and the two of them sit in silence for what must be five minutes before Gabriel speaks up.

                “I didn’t mean for it to hurt you so much.”

                “You _didn’t mean for it to hurt so much?_ ” Sam snaps, suddenly angry. “You made me watch my brother _die_ on repeat and then-” he can’t finish, and he doesn’t think he needs to. Gabriel knows exactly what happened.

                “I was trying to stop everything that came after.” Gabriel’s voice is sad now, and softer than it usually is. “I knew I couldn’t stop Dean from going to Hell and breaking the first seal, but if I could somehow make you handle his death I thought I could stop you from breaking the last one.”

                Sam laughs, bitter and self-recriminating. “Yeah, well look how that turned out.” He sighs, tired of the whole thing. “Look, I know. I get it. You wanted to do the right thing and it ended up falling to pieces.” _Story of my life._ “It just hurts sometimes to remember it, is all, and when I woke up to that song this morning I thought…”

                “You thought you were back.” Gabriel is watching him, eyes betraying an age his vessel doesn’t show. He pauses for a long time before speaking again.

                “You know, I really thought you would break after a while,” he says, gaze drifting into an unseen memory. “I knew you two were destined to be the vessels, and that meant Michael and Lucifer. And from what I knew of them – the family dynamic I remembered – you should have broken. They didn’t care for each other the same way you two did.” He smiles, just barely. “But you never broke. All those Tuesdays and you never completely stopped caring. You got a bit desensitized, sure – anyone would have – but you never stopped wanting out, and you never stopped wanting an out where he was still alive.” He stares at Sam, seeing him again rather than his memories. “I should have seen it then, that the Apocalypse would be a no-go. If any of us had cared from the start as much as you two did, the whole thing wouldn’t have been an issue to begin with.”

                Something in his voice sounds a tiny bit broken, and Sam is reminded of the day they’d found out he was an archangel, and the way he’d sounded when he tried to convince them to just let the apocalypse happen because his brothers wouldn’t stop fighting anyway and he just _couldn’t take it_.

                “In the end you were right, you know,” He says, because as much as he hates to admit it, it’s the truth. “If I’d handled Dean’s death better than I did, if I’d been in my right mind and hadn’t trusted Ruby, the seals would never have been broken. I just didn’t listen.”

                “You never would have listened. It isn’t in your nature.” Gabriel holds up his hands to stop Sam’s thoughts from dredging up the self-flagellation which is pretty much inevitable when the Apocalypse is mentioned. He tries again. “I mean, I’ve seen people who have a stubborn streak, but you kids?” He laughs. “You take it to a whole new level of determination. You would never have let me win, but you didn’t let Luci win either and that counts for something.”

                He’s been moving closer as they speak and now he sits next to Sam on the motel room bed, putting a hand on his shoulder in a comforting gesture. “You popped him out of the Cage, but you got him back in, too, and it’s over now.” The deep amber of his eyes holds depths that Sam hasn’t seen before – deeds and tricks done and regretted and unchangeable, and never quite forgotten, but put firmly in the past. “You’ve gotta stop beating yourself up over this and move on.” He looks hesitant suddenly, which was a look Sam had never actually seen on him before. “I know it probably doesn’t mean much coming from me, but I think you’ve got to hear it from someone, so here it is. I forgive you. I forgive you for falling into Ruby’s trap and drinking demon blood and starting the Apocalypse. I forgive you for anything you may have done without a soul, and I forgive you for trying to escape your emotions while your brother was in Purgatory – and by the way, you had no idea how to get him out, and there’s nothing you could have done, so don’t start. I forgive you for all of it, and although he’s never said it, I think Dean forgives you for a lot more than he lets on.”

                Sam’s vision is suddenly a bit blurry and he blinks rapidly for a few minutes before responding. “Thanks,” he manages, smiling at the archangel sitting next to him. “That means a lot.” He pauses. “For what it’s worth, I forgive you too. For Mystery Spot, I mean. You were just trying to do your best.”

                Gabriel nods, expression soft but unreadable, in that way angels have of hiding their emotions when they really want to, or when they get too strong. “Thanks.”

                They smile at each other and let a few more moments slip by before Dean knocks on the door and pokes his head back into the room. “Hey, are you two done pouring your hearts out yet? Because I’m gonna go take a shower.”

                Sam glares at his brother and gestures expansively at the room. “Be my guest.”

                Gabriel just winks at him and does a weird thing with his eyebrows before responding to Dean. “Yep, I think we’re done.”

                His face relaxes into a smirk. “For now."

**Author's Note:**

> Constructive criticism and other feedback is always appreciated. Thanks for reading!


End file.
